Last Shield
by Autoconner
Summary: In the far times of the future, humanity finally achieves a technological harmony, ending an arising conflict amongst themselves. Unbeknownst to humanity, it was only the beginning of condemnation, struck by a covenant of pestilent alien lifeforms, forcing them out of Earth. Unfaltered, only Earth's last shield shall carry on to defend it.
1. Humanity's Darkest Years

I do not own Transformers Prime or their characters, all respective rights goes to Hasbro.

OCs are all mine.

Chapter One

Humanity's Darkest Years

* * *

A soldier lay on his berth, turning left and right in the hopes of achieving a well deserved rest, but it never came. He had a hard time dealing with his heavy consciousness after today's occurrences; a flashback of a heavy battle against the worst enemy of humanity, and a false alarm.

The man groaned as he sat up in his berth - it had been months since humanity had escaped Earth and were now leaving their homeworld in a vessel. Usually, he'd go for a walk in the halls if he ever found himself restless. However, today, he didn't feel like wandering, he felt like sleeping a little more, especially with his tired legs after an already mentioned brief false alarm that had just happened a few hours ago. He stood up and walked to his dormitory's window with the glass lightly reflecting his transparent appearance.

He was a raven-haired man with pale skin and a tonal gunmetal-blue coloured eyes, his face scorned with a single diagonal scar that marked from his forehead, over his nose and dissipating on his muscular chin.

This man was Jackson Darby; he was a Corporal of First Armor Squad of the Protectorate, and one of the few that survived the Human-Scourge conflict.

He turned from his reflection and focused on the cosmos - he still couldn't believe that they were leaving their galaxy, the Milky Way, a galaxy that humanity resided on for a very long time, and they were leaving it because of a plague.

He lay his head down to feel the soft enveloping feel of the pillow on the back of his head. Closing his eyes and relaxing for a few seconds, he found himself sleeping once more.

* * *

The year was 2054.

Humanity had drastically advanced themselves in the technological aspect, something that many didn't expect to happen over the decades, as the Third World War almost commenced, due to a few grave misunderstandings between nations. Luckily, the issue was resolved before a grave conflict unleashed itself in the world, one that would potentially kill the majority of the human populace, with the menacing power of their nuclear weaponry.  
This wonder work that advanced them was designated as Kelta Energy. It shattered any wall that held humanity back technologically, and turned the impossible to the possible. Kelta Energy expanded through the world as part of the new globalization, and improved a lot of common and complex things, for the better. Automobiles, for instance, now ran on the Energy rather than petrol.

The industries also greatly changed. The introduction of the Keltan Energy to the market also meant that pollution was almost no longer an issue, save for some nations in the Middle-East and other Third World countries that still had to make use of the traditional way of industrializing (XXI Century Industries).

However, this technological harmony was short-lived. The work of strange intelligent extraterrestrial species that struck mankind in times of glory, had unleashed an unholy war amongst the two races. These highly dangerous and toxic specimen commonly were known as...

The Scourge.

At first, humans had spotted something on the atmosphere, then it escalated, followed by multiple video sightings of UFOs all over the world recorded by civilians and posted on social media and whatnot.  
Speculations rose and grew each day that passed, until it had finally gotten out of hand. The media grasped this matter one day and it showed up on all news networks in the planet. The sightings were very frequent, and one time an UFO even hovered over France's capital, Paris. The French Land Army were, of course, all deployed and at attention in the city, still with the conventional XXI Century Military Equipment. French citizens were startled and intrigued, as their media uproared on the sight.

And whilst they were naive to think that this species were friendly and were actually wishing to communicate with us, little did they know, that those sightings were actually threats of an impending invasion, and despite the evasion of the nuclear war, it was the beginning of humanity's darkest conflict.

The extraterrestrial were confirmed to be hostile when they attacked the United Kingdom... and thus beginning the Scourge war.

With the news of the Scourge attacking the United Kingdom hastily spreading to other countries, the whole world was preparing for possibly the worst conflict in human history. Military productions were boosted in all countries.

Jack Darby was only sixteen when all of this occurred. When the war was unleashed in Europe, he lived with his father, Chris Darby, who worked as a police officer in Orlando, Florida. With the absence of Jack's mother, Chris was the pillar that held the house together with his medium-wage income. He feared that one day he would never go back home if an incident like a shootout or a crash ever happened; the fact that Florida's crime rates were increasing didn't help his judgement.

And for that reason, he wanted to emancipate his son as fast as he possibly could, who in turn, was already working as a cashier in a Keltan station as his part-time job.

Chris Darby led a normal life with his son for several months after the plaguer attack in London. Until one day, American citizens living in the South and East were evacuated to the Midwest, having to reside in evacuation camps. Definitely not the best lifestyle, but it would have to do, as the grave situation called for it, considering the menace of the plaguers.

Whilst some of the military were deployed to the South and set defenses in case the Scourge came, others were sent to the United Kingdom to aid them against the Scourge. This was a battle for mankind, after all.

All countries were in a state of emergency, especially those located in Europe. The soldiers of the United Kingdom and the United States fought bravely against the Scourge forces, but the military found out the hard way, that it was futile to resist against them. Firearms were proven obsolete. The soldiers sent to combat the threat weren't effective with the conventional weaponry, and were all brutally slaughtered - the Scourge left almost no men standing in this battle.

Humanity's first battle against the plaguers was a catastrophe. Both U.S and U.K suffered heavy losses when compared to the nearly invincible forces of the Scourge, whose nightmarish creatures couldn't even be wounded by a firearm or grenade.

The governments took note of this massacre.

The United States Department of Defense concluded that they would have to use all their available military arsenal to engage this threat. They mobilized all military branches, Army, Air Force, and the Navy, to try and aid the U.K Forces once more.  
And once again, they failed. High-caliber weapons were just as unavailing as small caliber, Armored Infantry, planes, and even the Naval weaponry of the destroyers could only do little to the dangerous extraterrestrial ranks, as they even had air superiority.

The governments of nations from all over the world considered utilizing their nuclear weaponry, being very well aware that not even the mightiest firepower could dent a plaguer.  
However, a new problem was arising.  
The Scourge forces doubled. Having the upper hand in terms of transportation, they advanced throughout the rest of the European continent. Surprisingly, they were targeting nuclear silos, even detonating one in the process. To humanity's disdain, the plaguers still lived through the nuclear explosion and radiation with no harm done to them.

Mankind needed a weapon to retaliate against the ruthless Scourge creatures.

And fast.

And thus, the Protectorate Program was born. A Planetary Defense Organization created in times of war on which objective was simple: To protect Earth. Many soldiers and civilians from all over the world were encouraged to join the cause, working in the intelligence, research, or military sectors. With newly recruited scientists, mainly from European countries, they wasted no time experimenting. In their research, they designed a plausible weapon that could merely stun a Scourge.

They accomplished the manufacturing of the weapon that would prove itself in the battlefield against the plaguers. But mankind still needed a definitive defense weapon that was capable of destroying their foes, rather than stunning them and allowing them to fight another day.

However, this defense weapon was impossible to manufacture without having the necessary materials and information at hand. And one of those materials included something very dangerous...

While England was still a relentless and unforgiving battlefield, despite Martial Law being proclaimed a few days after the massacre, there were still forces stationed on safe positions. Those particular forces, from the U.S and U.K, had a very dangerous task to complete:

Capturing a Scourge.

Those brave soldiers of humanity knew very well that this was a very risky task to do, and no doubt would they suffer heavy losses, almost a suicide attack... But sacrifices had to be made in order to win.

SAS and U.S Operatives had set up an ambush on a street. The plan was to try and stun the creature with the new weapon that the Protectorate scientists created, one that resembled a rail gun, interestingly hybridizing with an Anti-Tank rifle. It was denominated the "X-01". The first weapon designed specifically for Scourge combat, of massive electric power that could send a high amount of volts if its cable connected to one. It was the first taser that could stun a Scourge, allowing for easy capturing of the creatures.

After a few days, the soldiers stationed in England successfully captured a plaguer, albeit suffering from heavy losses, barely accomplishing the mission. The sacrifices weren't in vain for the Protectorate Program scientists. In mankind's fortune, they managed to experiment with the captured creature without any incidents and designed humanity's second tool of retaliation, the definitive defense weapon: The Core Armors.

Core Armors were manufactured with a very rare metal, on which they denominated: "Klonium". This new metal was introduced when constructing the suits. Information about its extraction and attainments were all highly classified to the public and even to the majority of the Protectorate's personnel, even if they worked inside of the Intelligence Sector.  
Nevertheless, for fortunate events, it had proven to be quite resistant against Scourge attacks.  
The Core Armors were also designed to enhance the user's physical and mental capabilities when deployed, allowing the suit's wielder to adapt quickly and excel in combat.

Klonium Metal was also very important for weapon construction, with the High Command considering its use to build new ammunition cartridges. Yet, that was a problem...

Unfortunately, the scientists could only report that this metal was scarce and extremely hard to acquire. In consequence, only three hundred units of the suit were manufactured, and with the metal lacking, this also meant that the manufacturing of the new projectiles would be unavailing for human war efforts. Instead, the Command decided it was best to 'travel' back in times, where they would construct cold steel weapons to use against the plaguers. Such as swords, considering the lack of Klonium.

After one year passed, with time flying by, and the Scourge keeping their ruthless assault on the European, African, and Asian continents, greatly reducing the humanity world population from billions to millions, it was finally time to see the Core Armors in action.

When the first ever created Core Armor company, the Slashers, were expedited to the European continent, the results were outstanding, as the band of Core Armored soldiers had successfully neutralized four Scourges, but in consequence, suffered from four heavily wounded soldiers.

Fortunately, the four soldiers had survived their nearly mortal wounds, and continued to work within the Slashers. The sacrifices from conventional forces in the past year hadn't been in vain, after all.

Over the months, the Slashers had became quite famous in the Protectorate for their bravery and exceptional swordsmanship in battle. Alongside other squadrons, they were the oldest company in service, and certainly the best choice against the Scourge plaguery.

But even so, the tides still weren't turned, and mankind still had a long way to go to completely annihilate the Scourge and obtain freedom once again.

The Core Armors were now the standard gear for the human soldier in the battlefield, but the issue of the Klonium's scarcity remained.

Another year had passed since the first ever expedition outside of safety in the continents of North and South America. Jack Darby had enlisted in the military a few months after the successful second battle. Now eighteen years old, he only wished to retake the lost peaceful world that humanity had previously resided with harmony within, and to completely destroy the Scourge, so to not let them do this to humanity ever again.

He had passed through boot camp and was currently waiting to be assigned for duty. He remembered his father telling him not to go, that he would die. Although expressing his concern, Jack dismissed his father, as he couldn't just stand still and wait for a race of plaguers to conquer his planet and finish off humanity. He would fight.

After three weeks of waiting for an assignment, it had finally come. He was assigned, as a Protectorate Military Cadet, to serve the Protectorate in the newly formed First Armour Squad. Content with the events, he decided to speak with his father about the matter, but just as he expected, his father was against the idea.

Departing from the Military Base he was previously stationed in, he bid his final farewells to his father and traveled to the Main Protectorate Headquarters for his assignment. There, he met his brothers in arms, and did intensive training, to be able to acquire the armor.

Klonium Metal was very limited, he was informed. And this meant that ammunition was going to be lacking and for this reason, he chose a sword as his preference weapon, and a shield for his defense, in spite of the already existing Kelta powered arms, that were often utilized to stun the enemy.

His blade was similar to a helicopter's helix; it could joint itself and form a blade with two edges on each side, and it could also separate and form a double blade. It also presented a small hilt, allowing one-handed use for both modes. It had red-tainted edges, indicating which position the edges were located in the blade, allowing easier performance of slashes, the former facilitating the use in combat as well. It was perfect to use with his shield in combination.

The shield, for its part, was a replica of the Kite Model Shield. Being silver-coloured, it was also possible to expand ten inch armored plates on each side when pressed to the ground, for more protection. It was also possible to strike with the end of the shield, as it also presented a edge, allowing the possibility of the wielder dealing more damage if he decided to perform a thrust.

At first practice with his sword and shields in training, Jack Darby performed surprisingly well, but his forms presented a lot of openings, that even a newly-formed Scourge could make use of it to its own advantage and strike.

In training, Jack had made friends with quite a few people.

The first friend was a young female Cadet. Her name was Sylvia Göpfer and she was of German nationality. Just like him, she had raven-coloured hair. The only difference was it being shoulder-length. She had pale skin, and almost voluptuous curvatures. To top, her eyes were crystal-green.

They would often train together in sessions, seeking to improve their abilities to ensure their survival in the battlefield, with her weapon of preference being a War Hammer.

The second was Thomas Chyler. He had a decently built muscular frame and was gutsy, with honey blonde hair and anthracite-coloured eyes. Though, he almost always laid on his buttocks during a training session, because he had chosen a ranged Kelta-powered gun. He was of American nationality, and the youngest of the group after Sylvia.

Third and last but not least, a former SAS Operative, and one of the survivors of the First Battle of Humanity against the Scourge. He was William Logers, with a thin, yet muscular frame. He had auburn-coloured hair and forest-coloured eyes. He was usually the one who assisted their training, as he was considered a natural leader, his weapon of preference being a replica of an European long sword. He was of British nationality, and the oldest of the group.

The squad of four Cadets trained together for ten arduous weeks, improving their skills in combat, their leadership abilities, and even marksmanship... if they ever needed to neutralize human threats.

Each of the four surpassed the standard Protectorate Soldier's requirements to achieve the Core Armor. The top four Cadets graduated and were congratulated a day ago. Now all that was left for them to do was go to a certain quarter in the Protectorate facility and retrieve their armor.

The day after their graduation, they walked to the "Armor Ceremony" quarters, as the personnel in the facility called it. Through the headquarters campus, the quartet excitedly conversed among themselves, with the occasional wind breeze pleasantly ventilating them as they walked to their ordered quarters.

"So, are you guys happy or what? I can't believe we're finally getting our armor and going out on the field!" Sylvia excitedly began, Jack chuckling at her vivacity. William momentarily glared at the jumpy graduate before sighing and looking away.

"Yeah, I am happy we made it this far for the armor, but I wouldn't be too excited to visit the fields if I were you. You have no idea what those things can do," William spoke with a slight tone of venom in his tone of voice.

Sylvia merely pouted with exasperation; she knew he was right and didn't mean bad, but he certainly could be a dream-shatterer at times.

Thomas joined in, "Aw, don't be like that, Will. I'm sure we can kick some alien ass with those armors! The Slashers are the proof of that! Right, Sylvia?"

"That's right, they won't stand a chance with us together."

William only shook his head with a groan. Sylvia turned to look at Jack. He was surprisingly quiet. In turn, he was also looking at her in awe while the others conversed. She smiled and winked at him, chuckling when Jack blushed and looked away.

They ceased their chatter when they noticed they were reaching their destination. The structure resembled a planetarium, with a dome shaped structure atop of a simple rectangular shaped ten meter tall building. The four Cadets walked toward the building's entrance, taking note that there were already Protectorate CO's (Commanding Officers/Commissioned Officers) expecting their arrival. The Officers led them in the building.

On the inside, the halls could only be described as something out of a science-fiction movie. Although humanity had indeed achieved the incredible power of Keltan Energy, it was astonishing that the Protectorate managed to construct something so advanced in so little time.

As the quartet walked along with their two Officers, occasionally walking between hall intersections and turning either left or right, with the COs briefly giving them a "tour" of the facility, they had finally come across a gate with what looked like an eye scanner to the side. Beyond would be the Core Armor Room.

It was finally time.

One of the officers stepped forth and set his eyes on the scanner. The scanner confirmed personnel authority after a few seconds and unlocked the metal gate. Pressurizers hissed as the gates slowly opened. The four Cadets eagerly waited, the rewarding feeling of success filling their emotions each moment that they spent in awe.

They only waited for the gate to open.

After time, they did. The Officers led the graduates inside.

The room, walls, and floors were painted white. They viewed the room, watching the scientists actively working on a project. Jack assumed it was most likely one that would improve their armors, but he couldn't tell what it was. He could only make out frames of what looked like some sort of vehicle... again, he couldn't tell, as the project was obscured by a pitch-black curtain.

As the quartet of graduates were led out of the laboratory and into the main halls, they went on an elevator and descended deeper into the facility.

The group of six disembarked and proceeded into another room.

This one's interior had circular surroundings, with four sphere-shaped cells hovering in the center. They came to a halt as they walked to the front of the hovering cells.

With a hiss, the cells descended to the ground and disappeared in minuscule hexagon-shaped particles.

And it was in this memorable day that Jack met his eternal shield.

* * *

Hello to you, reader! I accept any criticism that can help me improve as a writer. You can criticize the plot, grammar, and other things. But I don't accept flaming in any way.

I'm really sorry that this story's chapter didn't have any action and barely had any dialogue, maybe you were expecting a lot more, but I'd like to point this out as a massive summary of the story, and this will continue for a bit in the next chapter, for you to understand what is going on before we move on to the actual story, where Jack meets the 'bots.

Next chapter will be one with brief action and dialogue, where you get to understand their armor, get to know the characters better and also a flashback of their first battle against Scourges alongside other squads. Again, it will only be a brief flashback.

I'd also like to point out that I was inspired by Xenoblade Chronicles X, Dead Space, along with many others and my wild imagination to write this story. If the character names or appearances happen to already be in use by a writer or the persons exist in real life, please be aware that it is purely a coincidence. Same goes for the story plot!

Anywho, I'll continue the second chapter of this story. I'll write more to you guys later!

With regards,

Autoconner.


	2. Shattering Home

I do not own Transformers Prime or any of their characters. All respective rights go to Hasbro.  
OCs are all mine.

Chapter Two

Shattering Home

* * *

Jackson Darby stirred, opening his eyes to the darkness of his dorm. It was a miracle he didn't have any nightmares in his sleep. Along with his nightmares, he would also have the occasional flashback of the past conflict of his last days on Earth where he witnessed his first loss, of an important friend.

Sighing, he gazed at his Core, lying on his wrist, displaying the time on its black screen. It was still very early... 3:40 AM.

He figured it wouldn't hurt to take a little nap, to rest a tad more. He merely relaxed on his berth and closed his eyes, once again falling into a slumber.

He suddenly opened his eyes to find himself back to when he was at the Protectorate Facility, receiving his armor alongside his comrades. He observed as a sphere slowly lowered itself to ground height.

Keltan Energy surely was a wonderwork of humankind. He couldn't begin to imagine how something like this was made. And in one year, even.

Shifting his gaze to his right side, he mentally chuckled as he noticed his friends also looked in deep thought, their shock expressed in their lips widespread in the shape of an 'O'.

"Woah..." Thomas was as speechless as the others, with the exception of Jack.

"H-How did you even create this?" William asked one of the officers, not even bothering to take his sight off of the descending ball that held his very suit. Even he, their considered big brother, seemed to be in shock with this technology. Understandable. You'd only see something like this anywhere except in real life, after all.

"I'm sure you know of the Keltan Technology. I can't go into deep detail on how this was designed, but all I can say is that it's thanks to the Keltan Energy 'sources'," At ease, the officer responded with a smirk. "Now, it's time for you graduates to receive your uniforms."

Each of the four spheres came to a halt in front of a graduate. The group of four newly formed soldiers observed, as the spheres in front of them slowly separated in minuscule hexagon-shaped particles, turning invisible when shrunk to a certain small size. All of the four soldiers viewed their suits before them in complete awe. One head that showed complete bliss and surprise, in particular, was Jack's. He stared at his suit, completely awestruck.

He then began to approach his armor. It was an all chrome tainted armor, with the helmet presenting draconic detailing with a visor-shaped aperture on eye-level with two bright azure-colored orbs standing out in the black covered spacings - those were the eyes. Atop, a slightly tilted thin oval-shaped plate, of approximately five inches, erecting upward and surpassing standard helmet protection height level.

The mouth guard resembled the design of a medieval barbute helmet, giving the user maximum chin and mouth protection, along with scaled shoulder plates on each side. The rest of the armor, like the helmet, had a draconic design of scales on the forearms, legs, and torso.

Jack had felt like a champion in a sports competition going to lift his trophy. Although the armor preparative training was relatively short, consisting of only several weeks, it was a very intensive training program. And going through all that harsh training to finally acquire his suit was precisely the reason why he felt like he was being rewarded.

"Private Jackson." One of the officers had called for him. Jack instantly braked himself and turned his attention to the officer.

"Yes, sir?" He instinctively assumed the military position of attention as he responded. Whilst Jack waited, the other officer ordered the newly formed soldiers to turn around.

"Line up with your squad, Private. You just graduated yesterday and you won't know how to even dress your suit up if we don't teach y'all," the officer ordered once again, with a hint of southern accent evident. Jack complied and went to line up with his comrades.

The group of four soldiers maintained the rank formation. One of the officers stepped forth and halted in front of the center of the rank, while the other kept his distance on a parade rest position. He then began:

"Firstly, I'd like to congratulate you four for successfully graduating the Protectorate's boot camp, one of the hardest military courses out there nowadays, and with good reason... even if it is short-timed. I am Captain Nicholas and this is my Technic Specialist, Lieutenant Daniels." He pointed to the Officer, who in turn, nodded.

"You're are all under our command from now on. Do you understand?" the Captain continued as he turned his head to face both edges of the rank to see if there would be one that didn't comply.

"Yes, sir!" The group of four shouted in unison. Nicholas noticed everyone had responded.

"Great." He turned to his Lieutenant. "Lieutenant, show them how to link up their suits." The Lieutenant complied and stepped forth, replacing the Captain's position as the latter stepped back.

"Alright, soldiers. I'll hereby be instructing you on how to ready up your suits, I will warn you, it is not as simple as you may think it is." The Lieutenant then proceeded to teach them how to ready their suits up; it would all be ready in two steps. And as he said, it indeed wasn't as simple as they may have thought.

The first step was to link the suit to a little device that would be resting on their wrist, the denominated "Core", hence their designation, "Core Armors". The device was very similar to a watch, but not only could it indicate time, it was also designed for the two simple purposes of storing and powering the Core Armor. Each suit had different system layouts, and it was necessary to know it as best as you possibly could in order to link the suit.

A safety precaution, for they wouldn't only be fighting against the Scourge Grunts, they would also fight against their field Breakers, their equivalent of hackers. They were the most threatening hostiles amongst the plaguer's ranks. And on recent field introductions of the foe, there was a new threat amongst the Scourge ranks.

Corrupted Humans.

The Corrupted Humans were once living people, that were most likely murdered by Scourge and turned into nothing but a hollow cask of flesh with their abilities unsurprisingly never again present. Somewhat similar to zombies, their strength in battle resided in great numbers, differently from the Scourge. They were mainly a common sight in the devastated continents. However, they weren't as troublesome as their Plagues; they could easily be dissipated by firearms or cold steel weapons.

Jack, along with Thomas and William, had some problems connecting their suits, for their suit system interfaces were somewhat complex for the common mind. Out of the three, there was one having the most trouble: the German raven-haired girl, Sylvia.

Sylvia wasn't having much good luck with her Core connection, as she was noticeably having a hard time maneuvering with her suit's system. With a few growls of frustration, it became all the more obvious.

The Lieutenant seemed to notice their struggles and went to their aid. The Technic Specialist hastily instructed the four soldiers on how to go through glitches and errors in case the suit malfunctioned in the field.

In the end, all four managed to link their suits to their Cores, and successfully powered them. A wave of relief washed over their frustration when they noticed that they had again accomplished another infuriating task. Seeing their unique colored suits' lights shine brightly over the facility's dull white tone, they could only smile in delight.

"Oh, yeah! Now we're locked and loaded!" Jack cheered with his group as they high-fived one another.

"Naw, we ain't, Jackie Chan. You still owe me twenty-five bucks." The group laughed at Thomas's playful remark.

The Lieutenant cleared his throat as to let them know they still weren't done, and the quartet quickly assumed a rank formation in front of their officer. After a few seconds of pause, the Technic Specialist began, "This marks the end of the Core-suit connection procedure. You will need to know this: it is critical for your survival in the fields, or all you'll manage to do is delay humanity's efforts by turning into one of 'them'."

Jack shivered at the thought, and, naturally, so did the others. They knew exactly what the specialist was talking about: The Corrupted.

"We'll move on to the next and final step of the procedures: Suit storage or holder," the Lieutenant spoke, and Jack's curiosity piqued.

Their officer then went on with another lecture. As expected, it consisted of another series of technological procedures with their suits that they still needed to get used to... yet, it was very interesting.

The second step was to try and 'break' the suit in molecular-sized little particles, perfectly capable of fitting inside the Core. The reason for this was because Klonium Metal was very heavy. The metal had low mass, though even if a small-sized part of the Klonium was placed on a scale plate, with four elephants on the other plate for comparison, the minuscule part of Klonium would descend victorious for its massive weight.

The only way that the weight could be reduced, with the armor efficiency kept, was with Keltan Energy. Thankfully for humanity, Keltan Energy could convert normal electricity into more Kelta. It was used as a way of reproduction and it was the only reason why they hadn't run out of Kelta yet.

One unfavorable factor of the suit was that the armor took a lot of time to be assembled or disassembled by normal means. And if a Scourge invasion ever occurred in that time, all humans would be dead by the time one suit was ready.

For this cause, the designers of the armor opted for the most practical way, making it possible for the suit to be battle-ready in a matter of seconds via molecular fragmentation technology. Of course, utilizing Kelta. When deactivated, the suit molecules would separate themselves from one another and travel to their linked attractor, the Core. The exact opposite would happen if the suit was deployed; the molecules would exit the Core holder and joint with one another on the user's body, solidifying the armor with the same defensive efficiency. It was no problem as long as the soldier wore a special fabric that prevented them from getting injured.

Whilst Jack was busy working with his Core, he hadn't noticed someone approaching him from behind.

"Hey, Jack... would you mind looking at me for a second?" a female voice had questioned in an almost cold, emotionless tone of voice... He didn't recognize that voice. How did she know his name? He turned to eye whoever had asked questioningly.

He was unsettled to see the figure clad in an amethyst-hued armor while everybody in the back continued working. Even the officers didn't seem to notice her or Jack. He was about to say something, when the ground below him shook so intensely he was knocked off his feet, collapsing on the ground with a thud.

He looked up and was taken aback, seeing that his armor was deployed and that he was now lying close to an edge of a hill on a rocky surface. Darkness surrounded him as it was night-time. He was even more shocked to see the figure hovering in front of him. She stayed as still as a statue, not even falling down into the abyss of darkness that was under them, like time was stopped. He looked behind him in hopes of seeing Thomas, William, or Sylvia, but they were nowhere to be seen. His dream had taken quite the dark turn.

"Jack..." she muffled out, startling him. He directed his gaze at her.

Still lying on the ground, he attempted to stand up, but he couldn't. He opted to try saying something, but he could only stutter and choke on the mass of the evil dusk that surrounded the both of them. He was too weak. He thought he had seen something move behind her but disregarded it as his imagination for he was more concerned with the fact that he couldn't even speak.

Each attempt that he made were proven futile. He gave up and looked up at the figure who was still hovering in the same place. He merely looked at her and waited for something to eventuate. When nothing happened, he once again looked around in the hopes of seeing anyone... anything, and, once again, he didn't see a single soul.

His attention yet again shifted to the figure in front of him when he heard loud thumping noises, getting closer and closer... those noises were very familiar to his ears, but he couldn't recollect his thoughts around it.

"Why... Why didn't you... Me, Jack?" He raised one of his eyebrows in confusion. She had spoken in sequences, as if trying to tell him something she couldn't. He focused on another obscured figure approaching from behind her, it was definitely not human. He could only stare at it in horror as the creature rose its sharp arms, ready for a slash.

And with a swift diagonal movement, it slashed its blades down to the figure.

"No!"

* * *

Jack had jolted awake with a gasp and quickly sat up on his berth. It was another nightmare of that time... Taking deep breaths to soothe himself, he set his feet on the floor and slowly brought himself up. He grabbed a glass cup on his nightstand and poured water on it, relaxing as he gulped some water.

He found no need to continue his rest when he checked his dorm's wall clock that was now marking 5:67 AM. Like before, he stared out at his window, momentarily forgetting that he was in deep space, leaving the Milky Way.

He felt disappointed. Instead of meeting the warm light of the sun rays, he only saw the dim lighting of the distant cosmo stars. He scowled, recalling his grunt year that was spent on Earth.

No memories other than his first battle shook him the most. It was when he and the others were headed out for their first and hopefully last battle against mankind's worst enemy.

(...)

* * *

The First Armor Squad were summoned by their High Command for a mission briefing, along with other Protectorate squadrons. They were going to be dispatched to the Middle East and look for more Klonium for completion of a project that was revealed to them the past few days. Soldiers that were sent on a mission months before had reported multiple Scourge activity in a desertic area, and this could only mean two things:

Either the Scourge were holding a Klonium depot, which wasn't unusual. Or they were busy Corrupting humans.

The squads united with a clear objective in mind. They would depart for their mission at noon. Rather than being transported to their destination, they would make use of yet another successful creation of the Protectorate.

The Gates.

To put it bluntly, the gates were a kind of technology that matched the description of the term "portal" the most. This was mainly used inside the HQ to teleport soldiers to their area of operations.

It was possible to control it via computers. All you had to do was type the coordinates of a certain location on Earth for an orange vortex to appear inside the controlled area and another in the location of choice, allowing easier and faster transportation, or rather... teleportation.

The soldiers eagerly awaited deployment in the armory, conversing amongst each other and inspecting their weaponry, mainly being composed of swords, shields, maces, hammers, and some ranged weapons. Voices and clicks were constantly echoing inside of the room.

One of those soldiers was Jack along with his three other friends. Aside from William, they would be seeing combat for the first time.

Sylvia was with Thomas, probably arguing about their taste in weapons whilst Jack was nervous about the upcoming battle that many anticipated. He spotted William approaching him and sighed.

"How you holdin' up, mate?" William began as he sat down on the bench in front of Jack, facing him.

"I'd be an idiot if I said I wasn't scared. Not only for me, but..." He looked in the direction of Thomas and Sylvia; they were still arguing. "... For them."

The redhead sighed. "I see. I felt the same way when I was in the military - worried for my comrades, but you have to pull it together, Jack. Be confident in your abilities and have faith in them. You never know what will happen on a battlefield. All you can do is fight and hope for the best."

"I trust them, Will, I really do. Still... I can't help but have a bad feeling about this mission," Jack sounded his thoughts, still concerned.

"It will pass over time, Jack. You just have to calm down, alright?" The auburn-haired man stared right into Jack's eyes. "I know you're worried about them. I've been there, I know. But know that it isn't going to be your feelings that will help them in combat, it will be your actions." Williams turned his eyes to the floor momentarily, and then back to Jack.

"Nobody here is Jesus Christ to resurrect the dead, and that is why we fight even harder for the man or woman beside us, for mankind. Just kick some alien ass if you want to help their chances of survival." He then looked at Thomas and snickered. "And besides..." William smiled. "You still owe Tom twenty bucks."

Jack chuckled. Although not completely reassured, it would help his consciousness. "Thanks, Will," he responded with a smile.

"Anytime, brother." William smiled and patted his back. "Do your best out there."

"You too."

Just as they had finished speaking, a voice erupted from their comm-lines, with a loud alarm compensating the deafening sudden outburst of the High-Command shout out.

"All units, report to the deployment area! I repeat, all units, report to the deployment area!" The soldiers immediately stood up and deployed their Core Armors as they readied their weapons and rushed out of the room.

William then called out for his squad. "First Armor, let's move it!"

Thomas ran past him in his gold-colored armor. "Way ahead of you, Will."

Williams shook his head and headed for action with Sylvia and Jack following behind. The raven-haired boy shifted his sights to Sylvia and met her green visor.

"Be careful, Sylvia. Don't go breaking formation out there," he expressed his concern.

"Don't worry, Jack, I won't. But promise me you won't get yourself killed either."

"I promise," Jack assured her, and the amethyst-armored girl smiled behind her visor.

They carried on behind their squad leader and within seconds of jogging, they arrived at the deployment room and came to a stop beside Thomas, who had been waiting for them. Jack looked around, surprised at seeing so many soldiers. From what he had heard, roughly two to three squads would go on retrieving missions, but this high amount was arguably compared to a formicary. He assumed that there would be a hell lot of Scourge where they were deployed, yet he could only fathom...

Just how dangerous were they, really? Of course, despite the evident knowledge of them completely annihilating the European and Asian continents like a deadly disease, he still had to see one of them in the fields. He already had an idea of how they fought and looked like based on intel, and, surprisingly, the Scourge were pretty intelligent in various combat situations, and it was mainly the reason why the soldiers were always sent to action in squads.

Corrupted humans were no trouble to go against, considering the majority of their forces usually consisted of civilians and were a common sight on the battlefield. He closed his eyes, trying to relax. Though, soon, his ears were perturbed by the sound of metallic footsteps.

"Attention!" their commanding officer, Captain Nicholas, roared, out of the blue, making his way towards the ten-by-ten rank formation, clad in his elegant evergreen-painted armor. All soldiers halted any actions and assumed the parade-rest position within the rank.

"Aye, sir!" the formation shouted in response, acknowledging their CO's authority.

Stepping in front of the medium-sized formation, the Captain ceased his movements and attentively inspected the first row of the formation from head to toe, as his suit's red optical orbs glowed with intimidation, making sure their armor and weapons were in peak condition for action. To his delight, there was no damage or dents to the soldiers' armor and their weapons were seemingly fine.

Satisfied, he began, "Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for my unusual interruption of this deployment. It saddens me to inform you that there has been a change of plans. We must prepare for humanity's darkest battle. Multiple Scourge signals popped up on our radar, and, as we speak, they approach us from both West and East with their vast amount of transport ships. We will separate ourselves into two regiments of one hundred and fifty. One forms a defense perimeter in the state of California, while the other goes to Washington DC! Lieutenant Daniels will be in charge of one regiment while I'll be leading the other. Soldiers, your objective is clear; protect this country with your lives!"

The Captain stopped his brief explanation as to what was happening and saw that many were fearful; their first signs of reluctance in perhaps a year of combat against the Scourge. Low morale would deem his men killed at the first sight of their ships. He yet again spoke.

"My brothers and sisters, we mustn't falter! You have all trained for this moment - to defend your homeland, and, most importantly, our planet! Think about your families, friends, and comrades that are counting on you in this hour of dire need. And it is with the future of humanity laying on our hands, that we shall turn the tides of this brutal war against them, or we shall die trying!"

The Captain raised his sword, with the soldiers doing the same, cheering, as the two gate structures began humming from the flowing power in their wires. He then turned to his Technic Specialist.

"Daniels, this might be the last order that I give you..."

Although somewhat saddened, the Lieutenant expectantly waited for whatever order he was going to issue him.

After a few seconds, he spoke, "I cannot guarantee our survival, and if you see the situation is hopeless..." Nicholas handed him a key for the laboratory. Daniels immediately knew where he was getting to.

"Do not hesitate to retreat with your men with the last of the civilians, and live on the outside of Kansas."

"B-But, Nicholas!" Just as he was about to protest further, the Captain silenced him with a motion of his hand.

"That's an order, Lieutenant, and I expect you to comply, do you understand?" The Technic Specialist clenched his fist in dejection, but quickly composed himself; he knew better. He wouldn't let emotions get in the way, especially now.

"Yes, sir..." he finally mustered out.

Nicholas nodded. "Good hunt out there, Daniels." His Lieutenant nodded back in response, just as two vortices shone to life in front of them. It was time to head out.

The Captain shifted his attention to the two platoons, that were ready with their weapons behind him, and gave his final and everlasting order for the Protectorate.

"Protect your home at all costs! All hands, move out!"

And so they did. Jack Darby went together with the First Armor, along with the rest of his assigned regiment, to the second vortex and were deployed within the state of California, in the city of Santa Barbara.

Already, Jack could see the upcoming hell that was to rain upon them as he eyed the multiple approaching Scourge ships in the coast. He looked at his three friends beside him and gave them a nod.

"Good hunt out there, you guys." Williams and Thomas nodded back. Sylvia had approached him.

"Remember our promise, Jack. Don't die on me," Sylvia worryingly remarked. Jack, in turn, only gave her a reassuring nod.

"Logers, get your squad in position!" the Lieutenant barked his order in the distance, but the two paid him no mind.

"Sylvia, I still plan on keeping our promise. So don't worry about me until we make it out of this, okay?" Jack responded in a caring tone.

"Okay..." she replied and focused back on the coast. While they were conversing, they hadn't noticed their Lieutenant ordering the squadrons to set up their defensive positions. As they looked towards the Lieutenant, a voice burst out in their comm-links. It was none other than their ranged specialized comrade, Thomas.

"Hey, you two in a daze, quit flirting over there and get in position with us! They're coming!" The duo immediately ceased chatter and headed towards their jogging squad leader and Thomas, quickly catching up. Williams then began to relay their officer's orders to his squadron while they were on the move. It was like Earth's most intense rush hour; soldiers were running back and forth to their designated positions. With a hellish battle imminent, and their chances of survival slim, they still hoped to at least hold back the relentless alien assault for enough time until the remnants of human civilization were evacuated... to outer space.

They had managed to forge enough materials for the construction of a ship capable of holding life in space for a determined amount of time. Which was why the First Armor's first mission would be to assault a Klonium Mineral depot position (likely crawling with Scourge), alongside the rest of the Protectorate Forces for the completion of the ship.

But, this time, they would have to make due with what little resources they had to finish it, even if it was normal steel.

The First Squad were jogging to their designated position. Their orders were to support another squad, responsible for implanting explosive satchels in the area to hold the extraterrestrial back.

"What's the plan, boss?" Thomas asked.

"We'll be providing cover for the Brawlers while they set up some explosives around the city. Keep your eyes peeled, those monsters will be here real soon!" William then looked at Jack. "Jack, you're with me."

Jack nodded in acknowledgment.

William shifted his sights and looked at Thomas and Sylvia. "And, you two, go through the street block and get inside that tower." He pointed towards a tower that overlooked the position of the Brawler Company. "Thomas, you will cover them from right there, you have good aim. And, Sylvia, you'll be his spotter."

"Got it!" she responded.

"Alright, let's go!" Thomas went ahead. Jack and Sylvia stared at each other for a moment before breaking eye contact and going to execute their respective duties.

Jack sped to the side of William and questioned, "So, what do we do?"

"We'll go with the Brawlers and give them direct cover from nearby. The Lieutenant and the rest will take the central assault head-on, so while we defend, they'll most likely try to flank us as well." Williams sighed.

"That means we'll be ambushing them here, right?"

"Yeah, along with Thomas and Sylvia on the tower."

Jack looked back at the tower in search of the duo. If it wasn't for the suit's capabilities of outlining allies in their visor, he wouldn't have spotted them. He smirked, no way would the plaguers see them up there.

When Jack and William arrived at their destination, they came across the Brawler squad leader. He looked at the duo for a few seconds before asking, "Where's our cover?" He eyed them quizzically, clearly puzzled as to why there were only two of them instead of a squad, which were either made of up four or eight people. This man was Anderson; he was known for having the highest confirmed kill amount after the Slashers.

"We're it," voiced out Williams, erecting his thumb in the direction of the tower with the Brawler's gaze following. He quickly spotted the two and understood why there were only two.

The Brawler turned on his heels and motioned the duo to follow him.

"Thought he'd send out more. But, whatever, list-" He was cut short as an explosion blew them out of the ground, sending them flying and crashing into nearby buildings.

"Grah!" Jack cried out as he collided with the concrete on his back and slid down to the pavement.

His ears ringing from the blast's sudden deafening eruption, he laid on the ground, shaken up as he looked around. He saw the Brawlers holding their ground against multiple Scourges and the occasional blue beam whistling throughout the air and hitting its mark on the plaguers. It was Thomas firing from the tower.

He hadn't noticed William calling out for him until his helm was slapped. Looking up at his squad leader, he could hear William saying something, but the sounds of his voice were baffled by the ring of his ears; he couldn't understand what he was saying.

When his senses finally returned to him, William screamed, "C'mon, Jack! Get the fuck up! They're everywhere around us and we won't hold for long if you ain't on your feet!"

Jack was battle-ready in an instant as he quickly rose to his feet, shaking his shock away, unsheathing his elegant double blade, and deploying his shield with Williams doing the same with his longsword. When Jack and Williams arrived at the scene for the second time, they came across four plaguers. As the two creatures spotted the duo, they turned to them and neatly parted themselves from each other, two on one at each. Now, the Scourges didn't look so horrifying from up close, but their power wasn't to be taken lightly. The four bipedal plaguers stood five meters tall. They appeared to have natural tinted sepia skin, corked in smooth black nano-jointed armor. Their cycloped visor lights shone an intimidating cyan, with their arms being peculiar razor-sharp bone blades, instead of the usual muscle tissue and hands, ready to tear apart anything that stood in their way.

Jack and Williams momentarily looked at each other and then to their two opponents. Jack formulated a quick plan.

"Will, you take the ones on the left, I'll take the ones on the right."

"I was about to say the same thing!"

Jack smirked under his helm.

The duo sprung forward in seconds, and with their targets mentally cross-haired, they quickly flanked the hostiles on opposite sides with their speed advantage. Jack was closing in with absurd speeds. A trait of the suit.

Foreseeing the attack of the nearby monster, Jack rose his shield, and as the Scourge's arm blade impacted with his shield with a 'clang', he deflected its strike with his Kite and spun on his heels, counter-attacking with a nimble horizontal slash.

As his blade cut through the creature's nano-armored torso with some trouble, the creature wailed in pain as its purple lifeblood stained Jack's helm and sword. The creature was wounded but far from being dead. Seeing the other plaguer rapidly approaching from behind, he ignited his feet boosters and propelled himself to the air with the plaguers halting their movements to look up at him, raising their arm blades.

Shifting the mode of his double blade to single blade, he reared his sword upwards as he descended to the ground, and quickly brought down his blade to the head of the Scourge he had previously wounded, confirming his first kill as the razor vertically butchered the creature's cycloptic skull in half. The plaguer's limp body lifelessly fell to the pavement.

"Take that!" he cheered.

Jack had almost forgotten about his second opponent, a mistake that could cost him his life. And it almost did.

He widened his eyes in horror and quickly crouched to safety. "Woah!" The creature's arm blade zoomed above him, just barely missing his head. Jack hastily shifted his weapon to double blade and blocked a second upcoming strike of the plaguer with a groan. As he was about to retaliate, he was even more shocked to see the creature was quick enough to perform another attack, diagonally coming from under his left.

But, to his surprise and relief, a blur had sliced the plaguer's bone arm blade clean off, saving him from his near demise. The creature roared in anger, shifting its attention to whoever had been responsible for its mutilation. Before it could even react, the Scourge was beheaded.

Its corpse fell to the ground as Jack looked around the area for his savior. He jumped, as the back of his helm was slapped the second time that day, turning around to see his squad leader. It was Williams.

"You have to pay some Goddamn attention, Jack! If you zone out on the battlefield for even a second, you'd die faster than a bloody Mayfly!" Williams scolded. Jack was about to speak when he was interrupted.

"And don't even think about talking right now, let's just move... The boys in the Brawlers need our help."

Jack nodded in acknowledgment and followed his squad leader to aid their comrades. While they were running to the battle, they viewed the scenario around them. Medics were rushing to wounded soldiers, whilst the Scourge kept their relentless assault on the front.

Many of the soldiers had been severely wounded while fighting. It saddened Jack to see that even with the armor, all they could do was hold them back.

Among these soldiers, one screamed in agony. He had lost his legs in combat.

"Oh my God... I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" The medics were busy trying to clean his wound and patch it up, all while he was suffering, pained. It was a rather gruesome sight for the young soldier. Jack averted his eyes and carried on with Williams.

They were getting close to the battle. Although obscured by smoke, the sounds of the men fighting the plaguers and explosions were drawing nearer each step they took. The duo entered the smoke and left it just as soon as they had entered.

Behind that wall of smoke was carnage. Their comrades were losing ground with the nonstop wave of oncoming Scourge. Their numbers and their ships were tearing the line of defense apart.

It was Hell on Earth and the damned were mankind.

Jack readied his weapons and gazed upon the incoming wave of ships and plaguers. "Holy shit. William, how are we supposed to hold them back? They'll just keep coming!"

"I don't know. I really don't fucking know! But we still gotta hold this position until the Lieutenant tells us to go back!" They kept running forward until they came across the Brawler Squad leader, laying on the ground, motionless.

"Damn it..." They both stared at his corpse. It was unbelievable. The Brawler Company lost had one of the toughest soldiers, known to have the highest amount of kills, their skill second only to the Slashers. Especially Anderson, their leader. He was one hell of a soldier.

And there he was... dead from God knows what hit him.

Jack looked at William, who probably looked just as shocked under his helm. "We gotta help his men, Let's go."

The duo resumed their race to the battle with weapons at the ready, running across no man's land, occasionally slicing any plaguer that came across them, under heavy fire from the extraterrestrial vessels. Their deafening cannons fired high explosive green beams at their position, trembling the battlefield with deadly explosions, each time reducing the human's morale.

The stench of death filled the air. The now rocky soil streamed with violet and crimson blood, with several corpses of humans and Scourge alike resting on their unpeaceful graves of battle. Despite being amidst these dark lands with his soon to be overrun position, Jack still had faith that they would survive this hellish battle.

It was hard to maintain composure when the odds were not in your favor. He merely remembered William's talk - all you could do was fight and hope for the best, for there was no telling what could happen on a battlefield.

Jack and William began fighting alongside the remaining Brawlers - this time, together - to hold back the plaguers for as long as they could. For mere minutes, the soldiers held their line of defense against the massive wave of the merciless extraterrestrial.

Their beam cannons were more of a problem. The only cover that they had were the smoke puffs scattered around but in the exchange of visibility. With a quick glance to the skies, Jack noticed that a larger alien ship was approaching their position. That meant more trouble, they hadn't even dealt with half of the ones that were on land.

Slowly, the sun was lowering over the horizon, setting itself as the ambient around the dark lands were darkening in consequence. The abnormally large Scourge ship was getting closer by the minute.

And the greatly punished were them for orders were to hold the line until their own ship was complete. And, even then, nothing would guarantee they'd get out of the planet with the extraterrestrial dominating even in the skies.

Jack and the others had embraced a rare time to rest. Another battle was imminent. Their conditioning and morale were slowly plunging. It was a miracle they had managed to survive until now whilst only suffering from flesh wounds.

His ears perked at the sound of footsteps approaching from their previous position. He set his gaze in the direction of a smokescreen, with the others following the action. They internally cheered, for they could be reinforcements. To Jack and William's surprise and to the disdain of the rest, it was only Sylvia and Thomas running towards their direction.

"Jack! William!" Sylvia called out.

At least now they would once again have the ranged support of Thomas - but what were they thinking?! Rushing out of their post to blindly advance to a position they were unaware of... Just when Jack was about to speak...

Williams yelled at the two. "Bollocks... Get out of the open! Who the fuck even told you two to leave your position?!" The running duo kept their race through no man's land, eventually reaching them.

Jack stared quizzically at the two before beginning. "What are you two doing here?"

"We couldn't see you behind all that smoke, so we decided to come lend you a hand," Thomas responded.

Sylvia reinforced, nodding.

Williams shook his head in disbelief but nonetheless decided to query about a certain matter...

"I'll let this pass, but make that the last time you two do something like this. Got it?" William scolded the duo. The two nodded. "Good. Have you two heard anything about the Lieutenant yet?"

The two momentarily looked at each other, before replying in a tone of slight sorrow and concern. Jack, along with William and the rest of the Brawler Squad, eagerly awaited for their response. They only hoped it was time to get out of this hell-hole.

"... N-No. We haven't heard of him yet." As the whole group was about to argue, they were forced out of their brief hostile mien by a recharging sound. They noticed, however, that it wasn't your typical humming sound, that you heard from a Gate, for instance.

It was an unpleasant sound, arising from the skies. All hands had now paused any previous actions and were scanning the environment around them for the source of the sound. Everyone looked in all directions. The left, the right, the sky... even the ground.

To their bewilderment, one had finally spotted the source. Thomas. He called out to them to gaze at the ever-growing black behemoth.

"Guys... look at that!" Thomas pointed to the large vessel, the same one that Jack had seen approaching. It was closer than ever.

Even the Brawlers seemed to be astounded by the huge ship. "What is that thing...?"

Whilst the group perplexedly conversed behind Jack, he noticed a circular shaped cavity in the medium of the ship, sticking out like a sore thumb. Beyond, outlined the hue of a burgundy ring that resembled an eye. It appeared to be 'staring' right at Jack's position. It was likely that the plaguers were now aware of their position.  
Nothing could have prepared them for what came next.

Subtly, with Jack still gazing upon the hovering hull of the massive vessel, he widened his eyes in utmost terror, as it fired several beams of fire from its 'eye' and it was raining down right on their position.

He hastily stood up and yelled to his comrades, pushing Williams and Sylvia back in the process. "Run! It's going to hit us!" The whistling sounds of the beams neared as if their own artillery was being fired at them.

All the soldiers had propulsed their boot thrusters in the opposite direction of the battlefield in a desperate attempt to escape their approaching doom.

It was all to no avail, as the fire beams blasted on impact. The shockwave of the explosion disintegrated the battleground's dark soil and potentially took the life of all the soldiers.

Jack was sent flying for the second time that day. It was a few seconds before he slowly lost altitude and hit the ground. Hard.

Injured, he opened his eyes. While whimpering in pain from the hard meeting with the ground, he scanned his surroundings for his brethren in arms.

His blurry sights were met with only the destruction of pretty much everything. He was lying on top of the violet lifeblood of the plaguers, now staining his chrome armor, streaming down from the huge crater created by that ship. He looked around once more. No one, not even a single Scourge, was in sight. And, to make matters worse, it was so silent that he wondered if he had ended up in another part of the world entirely.

Groaning, with his senses and will slowly returning to him, he lifted his body off the pool of their blood, to meet it again with his metallic boots. Standing at full height, with his weapons at the ready, he began to walk.

Only for his nerves to be struck with a sharp pain from his right leg. Hissing in agony, he knelt to the pool and attempted to temporarily suppress the pain by applying pressure to it. It did little to help, but he decided to suck it up and move anyway. He needed to find his squad.

Limping his frame to the end of the crater, he ungracefully scaled to the top. It was a hard task to do, especially with an injured leg, but he managed, albeit almost falling off in the process.

Atop, the scene around him was the same. He took note of the twitching of his Core Systems, cursing to himself that a Breaker was nearby. Nonetheless, he limped to the unknown in the hopes of finding his comrades. Maneuvering himself around several rocks and rubble, he sacrificed his visibility to the cover that the smoke walls temporarily provided him. After a few minutes of wandering, he decided to test his luck with his suit's comm-link.

"First Armor, Blue-4 to Blue-2, come in!" And, as he expected, his hark was met by static.

"Fuck...!" He slammed his fist on a rock in frustration, resuming to wander about in the nothingness that was this battleground. He began to wonder why he had enlisted in the first place. If he only knew it was like this...

What was he thinking? His reason was clear from the very moment he saw the state of soldiers from Humanity's First Ever Battle with the plaguers. To completely annihilate them and reconquer lost human territory, to once again live in peace with his kind. That's what he fought for.

That's why he pressed on.

That's why he needed to find his squad before the plaguers did.

That's why...!

He was brought out of his thoughts by his own impressions. He thought he had heard something in front of him. Stopping dead in his tracks, he slightly tilted his head to listen to the noise better.

It sounded like someone was struggling with something. It was a person. He widened his eyes in delight; he had found someone.

Without a second thought, he readied his weapons and moved forward, hoping to save whoever was beyond that smokescreen. In truth, he secretly hoped it was one of his squadmates. Though, even if they weren't, he would save his ally from their demise or struggles regardless.

Leaving the cover of the smoke, he widened his eyes in fright. There lay his squadron and the remaining Brawler personnel, surrounded by several Scourge Grunts. There were a lot of dents visible in his comrades' armor, but they seemed to be alive. They were only unconscious.

As the plaguers acknowledged his arrival, they turned to face him, their cyploctic cyan visors glowing in the darkening of the shadow rocky lands. Instinctively, he readied his blade and reached for his Kite shield, cursing to himself once more at the pain his leg gave off. He wasn't in condition for battle at all...

"I'll kill you, you bas - Ahh!" He cried out in pain as he was suddenly struck by something, crashing his helmet and wounding his face. A chain of electricity momentarily flowed through his body at the impact, deactivating his armor power. He fell to the ground with a thump.

Mere seconds passed as he lay on the ground. He winced when he felt hands grasping his back plates and dragging him closer to the rest of his allies. He was thrown to the ground, right in front of Sylvia. He rose his helm to see who or what had dragged him.

Instead of seeing the typical cycloptic visor of the other Scourge as he had expected, he saw a pair of two emerald eyes appear out of thin air, shining with menace as they stared upon his surrendered chrome-armored frame.

It was different from the plaguers in some aspects. It was a bipedal, ten-meter creature, with two hulking arms in the place of sharp, bone-coated blades. It was fully covered in the night-hued nano-jointed armor from head to toe.

He scowled. It was a Breaker. He had heard about them from expedited soldiers.

He attempted to move his body, but he couldn't. Spire was systematically locked, inactive. What luck he had, struggling against his own armor.

The Breaker walked over him to the other side.

The Scourge and the Breaker appeared to be conversing in an unknown language. This was new; he had never seen plaguers communicate before. Although he couldn't quite understand what they were saying, he had an idea of what it could be when the two Scourge momentarily glanced at him.

The Grunt made his way towards him. It approached with each pace it took, being followed by a distinct metallic noise as it walked.

It stopped in front of him, looming right over Sylvia. It looked down at her. He silently prayed it wasn't what he thought it would be.

His fears came to reality as it slowly raised one of its blades.

"No..."

It stopped, getting ready for the kill.

"Please, don't hurt her!"

His plea had fallen on deaf ears. He watched in horror as the creature thrust its deadly blade into her, instantly killing her.

"No! Sylvia!" he called out to her, his eyes widening in shock. His best friend was murdered right in front of him. He trembled as he struggled to believe what just happened, hanging his head as a wave of emotions overran him. He had ignored the Grunt slowly approaching him.

He almost didn't care, until rage took control of his emotions. He gritted his teeth and looked up at the plaguer. It was raising its arm blade to finish him off the same way it had killed Sylvia.

For the latest blessing that day, a beam of Kelta struck the creature on its head, knocking it out cold.

"Give 'em hell, boys!"

Then, like heaven's emissaries, came the Slashers.

Jack merely observed them, awestruck. They were so agile in combat that he couldn't even dare himself to compare to them. Gracefully moving, or rather, dancing on the ground, destroying the plaguers with hardly any effort. When his four saviours were done with the Grunts, they immediately targetted the last target, the Breaker.  
The Breaker reached out for its back and grabbed what looked like a blaster, the Scourge version of a firearm.

The Plaguer fired several beams on the Slashers. To the creature's disdain, the Slashers rapidly maneuvered themselves around, so the beams missed their mark. And, as they charged the creature, they dispersed their group, leaving one to attack the creature. The remaining soldier lunged and struck the plaguer's legs, completely stripping its valuable mobility, if it even had any, to begin with.

The Slasher rolled under and between the creature's legs. He had enraged the creature and forced it to direct all of its attention to him. It was vulnerable, with its back turned to the rest of the Slashers. They struck when they saw the chance, perforating the back of the Breaker through its armor with little trouble.  
Although it made no sounds, it had winced, evidencing its pain before it limply fell to the ground with a thump.

Jack was still locked in place. He was emotionally conflicted, torn apart, feeling helpless, having witnessed the execution of his friend right before him. He swore to himself he would avenge her by destroying them all.

Before he knew it, he was graced by the atmospheric embrace of his comrades. He paid them no mind, however, keeping his broken gaze on Sylvia, not even taking note of the several approaching field medics, checking their wrist systems, grabbing the remaining soldiers of the Brawler squadron, and his other comrades.

"This one's alive too! His suit's locked!" The voice was distant in his ears, despite the corpsman being relatively close to him.

"We have one KIA!" Those were the last words he heard before meeting darkness as he passed out.

... Jack was saved, along with his other squadmates and the Brawlers. But it was too late for Sylvia, as fate had picked her as a victim. As saddening as it could be, she was just another dead soldier added to the statistics.

* * *

He opened his eyes to the sound of the alarm, an ever familiar repetitious 'beep' sound filling his ears. Months had passed since they had fled from their own homeworld, in the hopes of keeping the human race alive, somewhere else, far from them.

Not many survived the second Scourge attack. Casualties had a high rise for both the civilians and military alike. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Daniels and most of the soldiers under his command were killed as well. All that was left of the humans were only... One million people. That's right, one million. Mankind was on the brink of extinction. Even with all the Protectorate Personnel fending off their attacks for a week, they still wiped out a good amount of people, mainly civilians. By the time they were done with that ship, they were on our last stand in the Mid-West, barely managing to evacuate and escape.

The remaining Protectorate Forces were assigned to work as Sentinels and as Satellites. Sentinels were only guarding the ship; they would be the first resistance that the plaguers would encounter if they found them again. Satellites were the ones on the lookout for planets in the main head of the ship. In charge of evacuating the civilians in case of a grave emergency, they would be the last resistance, and Jack was assigned alongst them. Whilst they were lost, wandering about in space, the Engineers constructed another Gate. It was only to be used as a desperate measure but Jack didn't like the idea. Even if they had a Gate onboard, where would they go if the Scourge ever found them?

(...) Despite all this mess, he was just glad his father wasn't amongst those casualties. He was already affected by Sylvia's death. He had grieved for weeks, feeling empty, with no solace other than William, his father, and Thomas.

Thomas was shocked the most when he had heard about Sylvia's tragic demise of being executed by a damned plaguer Grunt. He came to hate them even more than he already did, like Jack.

Even so, in times like these, you can't let emotions get in your way and interrupt your work. Especially if that particular work involves scanning for habitable planets in the middle of the cosmo on your shift. It was a pretty important job, and they would have to find one soon or they'd go extinct for good. This tin can could only last for so long. Having enough of contemplating, he made his way to the alarm and shut it off, sighing as he saw what time it was, marking 7:05 AM. God damn it, that was how long he had spent the time, doing nothing but thinking?! It was almost as bad as the time he would brood. And his shift would start pretty soon! He was glad that he wasn't sleepy at times like these.

Still finding himself restless amidst his dormitory, he figured he'd go for a short walk in the halls to pacify his mind after today's painful memories and doubts. He'd go to work on time. Opening a drawer from his nightstand, he grabbed Spire and set it on his wrist. It was expected for all soldiers because they needed to be ready for anything, after all. Noticing that he was already dressed in his protective suit fabric, he made his way to the dorm's door and exited into the hallway. He sighed, walking along the large hallways of the vessel. He was glad the dormitory halls were this quiet. It allowed him to sort out his thoughts and relax in harmony with the silence. He laughed internally, he hadn't pegged himself for the walker, but it helped him allay his mental conflicts.

Today, though, was a different story.

He couldn't help but have a bad feeling in his gut. He'd seen plenty of these scenes in the movies, where the good guys had bad feelings about something and the bad guys would come. Maybe they have found us and are just waiting for the right moment for the finishing blow, or they are still looking for us and when they find us...!

He was out of his thoughts by a growl, feat of his stomach. It was at this moment that Jack then suddenly took note that he desperately needed to go to a particular place...

The bathroom.

He couldn't suppress a laugh as he grimaced, his aching abdomen growling once more. Oh boy, he really needed to go.

(-)

In another part of the ship, William casually strolled to the Sattelite deck. First Armor shift would start in thirty minutes, so he figured he'd go buy himself some coffee to wash out his seemingly apathetic expression from his face.

He turned right at a hall intersection, to head to the main deck, and came across Jack.

"Ah, Jack. Morni-"

"H-Hey Will. Listen, I'll talk to you later, I-I gotta go pass a fax." Jack wasted no time, cutting him off and sped off to his dorm's bathroom, probably.

"...'Right then." He raised an eyebrow and watched Jack disappear into the corridors. He chuckled and continued to the main deck, as they call it, his legs almost automatically carrying him as he yawned for the fourth time that day. He certainly wasn't a morning person, even in space.

After a few minutes of walking along the hallways, he arrived at the movimented deck area, as crowded as ever. He remembered why they called it the 'wave room', recalling that the danger of being inside such a large crowd of people was that you could easily get lost in the vessel, and it was always a swarm in work-hours. As annoying as it could be, you'd need to get used to sailing on those wild waves to maneuver around, or you'd perish, figuratively.

An exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he periled himself into the crowd, squeezing through several people, probably on their way to work in their respective sectors, as well. After various tightments of his body, William finally found his self in front of his favorite German cafe, Das Berühmte Pause.

He only hoped it wasn't as full as the wave room. He didn't feel like going through that again, especially in a smaller space. Yet, no matter how much he hoped or cheered for it, he would never find the cafe being empty. He internally snickered at his own misfortune, as he entered the cafe.

This time around, to his astonishment, it seemed like his prayers were somewhat answered. The cafe was only mildly full, and he had no trouble with time, ordering his coffee without a worry. After a few minutes, William left the cafe to meet the devastating crowd of the wave room once again. Ah, how he ended up falling in love with this.

That "love" surely would dissipate over the time they found a habitable planet, if fate ever decided to be so nice as to bless mankind.

William checked his Core Time, marking 7:26 AM. It was almost time to work.

And it was with another sigh that he adventured himself in the crowd, to his squadron assignment.

Managing to skitter around the strait sea of the masses, he paced to the shuttle's cockpit, where they would assist their ship Commander, Nicholas, the former Protectorate Captain. To be specific in their search, they didn't go out looking in shuttles. Instead, they traced planets via their ship's internally implemented radar. They would only utilize fuel and other components when they found a planet or if the situation called for it. That is, if that day ever came, knowing mankind is as good as dead at this point.

William reckoned that his team would already be expecting him in the shuttle's cabin at this time of the day. He didn't exactly fancy the idea of having his Commanding Officer chewing him out over small matters, so he hurried on to the cockpit.

William arrived at the end of the hallway and doing as little as walking to open the enclosed hatch of the canopy, the only way to the inside of the cockpit, after confirming personnel authorization via basic scanning procedures.

Walking beyond the doorway, the auburn-haired couldn't help but always be amazed at how far they had technologically advanced in so little time. It was all thanks to Kelta Energy.

Had the plaguers waited a tad longer without taking over the world, they could've slain majority of the Scourge ranks and retained their long-lost liberty.

In the end, it was all but a gamble. The High Command could only bet on their way out, as they feared the worst, and allow the scientists to work with the engineers to construct the Holder, their space module.

He was on a platform that overlooked the lower ground of the Holder's cockpit. Engineers were working with their suits, carrying armaments, chemical components for the scientists, and etcetera. It was an alternate assignment for Sentinels, as to not allow them to slack off their entire hours in the ship.

"Hey, Will! Over here!" William turned his head, seeing Jack and Thomas calling for him from their respective workstations. He beamed at the sight of his surviving comrades and made his way towards them.

He was confused upon seeing his Commander, who seemed to be following their tracing work quite attentively, like they had found something interesting.

The admirable form of his Commanding Officer stood between the two Corporals, his dingy topete hair absorbing the bright ceiling light and covering his pale skin, with his umber hued eyes staring right into the monitor's screen. Nicholas blinked, shifting his gaze from the monitor's interface to William.

"Sergeant, your squad seems to have found traces of a habitat. Come here and see for yourself." The auburn-haired man, for his turn, shook off his startlement and paced to his squadron's workstation, taking a moment to focus on the screen, and...

Holy shit...

They actually fucking did it. They found a planet capable of sustaining life.

For mankind's fortune, it seems that they would be able to recapitulate their lives soon. And, hopefully, with no Scourge to interrupt it.


	3. A Fiery Raid

I do not own Transformers Prime or any of their characters. All respective rights goes to Hasbro.

OC's are all mine.

Chapter Three

A Fiery Raid

* * *

Aboard of the Holder, humanity's mobile shelter for several months, stood Sergeant William Logers of the Protectorate. Stupefied at the turn of events, content that it was to mankind's fortune instead of the prolongement of demolition, desperation and death. He could only gaze at the workstation's radar monitors, almost brimming in glee. This was all for a cause, a cause that he prayed would lift the weight of the shoulders of many, including his own.

They had found a different system with fifteen planets, with the seventh presenting the higher chance of being a habitat.  
Among the fifteen planets orbiting the white gigantic star, only one was capable of sustaining human life, for it was rightly distanced.  
No matter how morally moved he was at the moment, he was well aware that the information needed to be confirmed, they would only be given the green-light if more waves of scans studied the planet in depth, localizing oxygen, water, resources, and radiation. In other words, they could only render it a habitable planet, or a non-habitat.  
Then a familiar voice sounded, breaking him out of his chain of thoughts.

"Sergeant Logers, the other Sattelite squadrons will assist you and your squad in the scanning process of the targetted planet. Prioritize that scanning and nothing less, remember that our supplies are diminishing, and we may not last any longer than a few months." Commander Nicholas voiced, ordering with clarity.

"Aye, sir." Williams acknowledged and saluted to his Commanding Officer. Turning to his cherished squad, he praised them for the ammount of effort they put solemnly to locate humanity's second homeworld.

"You guys... I'm bloody proud of you two, you know that?" Both his squadmates smiled at his marking. He returned the beam.

Jack chuckled. "That we know, Wills." His vivid smile slowly diluted to a long-face. "But... we won't know for sure unless we complete the scan. And that might even take months."

Thomas and Williams looked at him. Their expressions neutral, still presenting tings of somberness. Williams set himself a reassuring smile.

"We know, Jack. We all know." William spoke. The smile still clasping his expression.

"But let's set the pessimism aside and think positively. We have orders; scan the planet with the help of the other Sat's, so let's make it so our efforts ain't in vain, yeah? Last of humanity's populace all in this tin-can."

Jack and Thomas nodded, turning to their stations, halting the subject. The only things breaking the silence were the occassional foosteps and the Sentinels shouting on the lower deck. A good part of the Sattelite Squadrons were working there aswell, the minority being on the upper deck.  
Sighing, he looked to the workstation's monitor, displaying the planet's statistics. He turned to his squad, both awaiting for his needed confirmation to commence their work.

"Let's start the scan." William nodded.

* * *

Inside the ventilations of the Holder, crawled two 'men' on their way to the engine compartment. These two had infiltrated the Holder from their own nearby invisible vessel, like phantoms, unsighted. For their turn, their orders were disable the ship's propulsors, facilitating the caption of the remaining humans. The duo didn't know why they had to be captured, they weren't informed.  
They were two Bhor brothers, disguised in human skin. That particular ability was rarely reserved to the Breakers whom were adept enough to earn the title of Phantom in the Bhor ranks. Such were granted the ability to disguise, the ability to turn invisible, finalizing with the ability to shrink or grow mass to a limited size.

The two brothers had clear orders in mind, and weren't going to be stopped.

The younger one followed his older brother on the lead, who was seemingly engrossed on finding their way through so many intersective ventilations. He decided to break the silence amongst them. He had a question cemented in mind. Too long wondering about one thing...

" _Viq... Why do we even hunt the human race?"_ He questioned in a whisper, to avoid drawing unnecessary attention from under.

The older one turned to meet his younger brother's eyes, keeping his movement inside the ventilation as quiet as possible, both being careful not to make a sound in the narrow space.

" _We do so out of fear, my young brother. Our despotic leaders force our current generation to war against a species we've barely known. Only to assure universal dominance, for their twisted beliefs."_

"... _If that is the case, why did the_ others, _our allies, kill innocent lives on their planet, used their corpses, almost wiping them out entirely? Why didn't we rebel against them in Navia?"_

Viq shook his head. If it only was so easy... He knew that his younger brother, Ya'hr, was right in his own sense, but was so innocent as to be unaware of their situation. The absolute monarchy that the Bhors and Cynormus covenant lived in, was a dominated society by the cruel clutches of the Regionaires, with the king being a mere puppet of their acts. And were you charged of heretism or treason against the monarchy, you were executed by their commissals without any judgement by the Regionaire part.

" _Ya'hr, understand that our comrades might have been forced to do so, as the Regionaire's orders are absolute. And you know what happens if we don't obey, don't you?"_

" _I know, Viq, I know. I only... Despise the ones who take joy in ravaging innocents._ _"_ Viq couldn't hide a plain feeling of felicity at his brother's words. He wasn't the only one that thought this way about that wretched Council, many considered rebelling against them in Navia, their homeworld. But wouldn't dare, as their families could have been put in danger, and executed, in behalf of the responsible's actions.

" _So do I, my brother._ _I only agreed to this mission because we have no choice, Ya'hr. I truly feel remorse for their kind. But it's either them, or us."_ Ya'hr nodded, as they proceeded to the highlighted location on their vision. They were relatively close, a little more crawling and they would be there in a few minutes.

Creeping through the scanty space of the ventilations, they finally arrive at their objective. Unhitching the panel, they dropped to the floor of the Holder's engine compartment.  
Their bright emerald sights were met with diverse kinds of tubing, probably the coolant and power source of the engines, and the wiring, for electricity. They were in one of the various intersected dim lighted hallways within the engine compartment, only one of all ways led to the core room. If they weren't granted their superior navigation abilities thanks to their highlighting vision, they would be at a complete loss. Viq turned his emerald eyes to every direction before locating the marked location of the propulsors. He perked, before beginning:

" _This way_ _."_ Viq then looked to his brother. " _Follow me, Ya'hr!"_ The young Bhor spy nodded, following his older brother leading the way. Both spies had successfully infiltrated the Holder's engine room, the objective was to deactivate the vessel propulsors. If their objective failed, they would have to resort to blowing up the Holder, completely. It wasn't a very difficult mission, but the duo would most likely have to be very discreet in their act, for there could be several human guards inside of the compartment, considering this was their first ever spacemodule to wander so distantly of their solar system.

And their assumptions were correct. They had spotted a group of four human guards, highlighted in blue, patrolling amidst of the tubed maze of the dim lighted corridors, and they were heading directly towards them.  
They quickly hid behind a pile of crates that was conveniently placed along the sides of the broad corridors of the compartment. Engaging their cloak, to blend in with the ambient. The guards wouldn't see them, for sure.  
Even with their cloak mode being activated, the duo tensed with each metallic step and voices that sounded within the corridors, approaching their hiding spot by the second. For their expected fortune, the group didn't even notice the occult disguising duo.

With the passing of their guards, the duo stood by for a few more seconds in their cloak, to assure no one else was coming. Availing the lack of lightning in the corridors, they blended with the shadows, deactivating their cloak and carrying on when they were certain no guards would pass by the dark maze of tubes and wires. Crouching, they made their way towards the propulsor room, their feet carefully met the ground, to not draw unwanted attention with a loud sound.  
The older Bhor spy, Viq, led the way, having more experience in furtive operations than his younger brother.

Following the highlighted location in their vision on crouched paces, the duo arrived at the vessel's propulsor room. All the tubing and wiring throughout the hallways wound up here, with six propulsors connected to the ship. Different from the somber corridors, this room had decent lightning, easing their vision. Though, there would be one problem that could compromise their tasks as spies, and force them to go loud.  
The room was lit well enough for them to be completely exposed, even with their cloak. More, if one guard entered the room, the operation would be jeopardized and the Holder would have to be demolished in flames.

" _We must work with haste before a human guard enters!"_ Viq pointed to three engines, the left of his sibling. " _Ya'hr, plant the Disabling Farshocks on those three engines of theirs, I'll take the other three on the right."_

" _Acknowledged._ _"_ Ya'hr complied, jogging his way to the left engines.

* * *

Minutes had passed since the active Sattelite squadrons of the Holder occupied their minds and bodies with the task of scanning the possibly habitable planet, right infront of their very own eyes.  
All of the purged habitants of the now dominated planet Earth could only hope that the planet was indeed habitable. They needed a place they could call home again, after eleven hard months of blind wandering in the lone depth of the cosmo.

Jack was no different. He agogly viewed the monitors of his workstation, anxiously awaiting for the scanning results. So far, it was going very well. The planet didn't show any signs of hazardous components, had water, and oxygen. It also had a somewhat higher mass compared to Earth, the concern at the moment was its gravitational force. Despite the favorable outcomes by now, he couldn't help but constantly shift in his seat, nervous. He had a tingle of doubt in the back of his mind... What if this planet wasn't habitable as they declared?  
What if something disastrous happened during the scan?  
What if the Scourge had been chasing them this whole time? Only waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack?

He shook his head, he wouldn't think of that now. He had to stay positive, for his kind, for his family, for his comrades... And for Sylvia. Hopefully, this seemingly harmless planet won't be a farce beneath its oxygenated atmosphere.

"Still worried, Jackie?" Voiced Thomas, in a tone of sympathy. He must have noticed Jack's expression.

"Nah, I'm just a little lost in thought." He shrugged, turning to Thomas.

"What about you, Tom? Worrying alot?"

Thomas sighed. "A little. I just hope this planet is good for us to live in and all. Pop's been getting stressed, you know? 'Lotta months in deep space is just... Terrible."

"Tell me about it. I had a talk with my father one of these days..." Jack coughed, monitoring the scanning proccess whilst he spoke. "He doesn't really like this ship, and keeps saying he has a bad feeling about it." Coughing four times, Jack sighed. More attentive on the monitors.

"I'd have a bad feeling about it too. I mean, people are even getting sick, insomnia, coughing and hallucination cases. Hell, some were even diagnosed with mild schizophrenia." Jack opened his mouth to say something but could only cough.

"Looks like you're ill too, huh?" Jack nodded as Thomas reached for his pockets.

"Here, catch." He threw something to Jack. Catching the item, he examined it. A package of eight white pilules.

"A-Pills? Thanks, Tom." A-Pills were facile-producted medical pillules that could alleviate pain and coughing. It was sold in all of the Holder's pharmacies for a couple of pennies. Though plainly looking like dipyrone pills, they actually were very effecient to relieve aching and coughing, as long as you weren't severely injured.

Thomas smiled. "No prob', man. We look out for each other." He turned to monitor his own station as Jack swallowed one of the pills with some water. And at the same moment he consumed the medicine, he instantly felt the effect, his urge to cough being suppressed by the remedy.

"Can't wrap my head around how good this is. How come we didn't have this back when we were on Earth?" Jack raised a brow. His sights meeting the screen of his workstation monitors.

"Dunno." The blond shrugged. "Maybe we still weren't as advanced or something like that. What's the scanning percentage?"

"Current scanning percentage at five percent." Jack responded. "Still a long way to go."

"Ah, atleast it took off from one percent. I hope it's a good place to live in because even I am getting tired of being stuck in this coffin."

"You'n'me both."

Abruptly, the Holder quaked. Lights flicked with the braking of the vessel, Jack and Thomas stumbling left and out of their seats, to collapse on the ground. The engines emitted a loud hum of deactivation, being possible to hear it all the way from the cockpit deck. The tremblling ceased as the massive hull of the Holder gradually came to a full stop.  
Jack groaned, picking himself off the floor.

"What the hell...?" He looked at Thomas.

"You alright, Tom?" Jack worriedly querried.

"Yeah... A little shaken up... But I'm just fine!" He replied, grumbling something to himself, Jack let a sigh escape his lips in relief. He couldn't make out what the murmuring was and he didn't care, as long as his friend was fine.  
He then peeked from his workstation to the work halls.  
He saw William staggering through the upper deck floors, between several Sattelite workstations. Everyone seemed to be shocked. Even the Commander, who was still holding on to the railings, looked concerned at the sudden halting. It wasn't long until he turned his dreary attention to the crew.

"Crew, situation report! I need to know the hull integrity of the ship!"

"Trouble in the engine compartment, sir! - Main propulsors are offline!" A Sattelite soldier quickly responded. "We're losing speed fast!"

Nicholas pointed to her. "Inform the guards nearby at once! We could be under Scourge attack!" She nodded. With Nicholas dismissing her, he then looked over his control panels and pressed a button. The emergency override was immediately activated, blaring alarms throughout the entire Holder. Lights were out, the ambience was only lit by the red dim flashing of the alarm lights.

" **Attention, anomalies detected. All civilian personnel are to report to Section Five immediately, other decks will enter lockdown in three minutes. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill.** " Subsequently, a ringing tone of voice sounded from the vessel's speakers. It was the electronic voice alert.

Nicholas turned and looked over the railings to the lower floor.

"Brawlers and Hawk squads!" The members of the respective squadrons looked to him the moment he called out. "Gear up and move to the engine compartment to assist the guards with their search, the last thing we need is a God damn plaguer in this ship and right infront of the planet! If it was only malfunctioning, contact me, and I'll call the engineers. Now go!"

The two squads deployed their suits and rushed out of the cockpit through a entryway, running their way towards the engine compartment in a matter of seconds. Had something gone terribly wrong in that compartment, they would see to it battle-ready. As previously trained and exercised in the Protectorate back on Earth, soldiers could absolutely not afford to lower their guards at any moment. Especially if the problem concerned the Scourge. Nicholas wasn't a man to just settle down if a situation like this arised, and he definitely felt more at ease, knowing the capabilities of the soldiers in combat against the Scourge.  
Different from the Garrison personnel, or simply known as 'guards' whom equivaled police officers, armed with Kelta powered firearms. Commonly tasked with law-enforcement or to warder critical sections within the Holder, instancing the engine compartment or maintenance deck.

He hadn't heard or seen anything that would dilute the Garrison's reputation. He admired their work and contribution to the security policies of the Holder, maintaining the peace and order within the vessel. However, the guards were only trained to deal with minor cases of theft, against assailants. Though they were armed with Kelta munitioned weapons, they weren't trained to act like a military force. That, and the fact that Kelta munition couldn't possibly do any more than simply stun the threat, practically harmless against the mortal forces of the plaguers when compared to a military grade Klonium longsword.

Being negligent in this situation could be fatal. Not only for his person, but to the life of many others aswell. He also had to worry with the civilians inside of the ship. For their turn, their contributions varied. They could be either big or small, but important nonetheless. Mankind couldn't afford to lose even more of their population.

Nicholas then gunned his eyes towards the First Armor squad. He saw Jack, who was occupied succoring some of the stunned members of the Sattelite, along with his two squadmates. He needed them elsewhere at the moment...

"Alright, First Armor!" Upon hearing this, the three soldiers of the First Armor immediately turned to their commanding officer, leaving their still floored colleagues to sort themselves out. They'd live, no big deal.

"Head to the armory and core up your armor. I might need deploy you three, aswell, don't come out of that armory until I say so." The Commander bid, to which Jack and his two squadmates quickly followed. Accedding his order with an "Aye, sir!" before heading on jogs towards the armory.

The trio left the pit through another aperture, hurrying throughout a catwalk connected to the cockpit, overpassing a capacious lobby replete with panicking civilians, their chorus of terrified squeaks and wailing disturbed the peaceful silence that once resided in the lobby.

To their left, poised a very tall window pane that allowed exterior viewing of space and majority of the hull that extended along the sight, mainly on the left side. They would be looking right at the engine compartment. So far, they didn't see anything unusual. They prayed for whatever happened to only be a minor malfunction and nothing more. Losing control of the Holder and likely crash into the planet without even knowing if it was habitable wasn't going to sit well with many.

Thomas wasn't coping well with the thought.

"Fuck, man. We've all had enough of the grunts and those green-eyed freaks back on Earth, now we've got to deal with them again?"

"Calm down, it could be a malfunction. We haven't stopped until now, It might just be that." Jack reassured, but landed the opposite effect on Thomas. His squadmate frowned.

"Glad you said it, it _might._ " The blond emphasized the last word. "What kind of Kelta engine cuts out like that, anyway?" Jack shook his head.

"... I don't know. But if it did cut out, that's the first problem in ten months, even with all that maintenance." He glanced at the crowd below, a few agitated here and there but they were starting to ease up on their way. "Let's just go to the armory and wait for whatever the Commander has in mind."

(...)

* * *

" _Looks_ _like it worked, Viq!"_ The older Breaker nodded in response.

" _So it_ _seems. Quickly, let's exit the ship. The human guards have undoubtedly noticed and are coming as we speak."_

The Phantom duo deployed their invisibility cloak and soundlessly made their way through the maze of wires the second time that day. Occassionaly stopping and making way for the Holder's guards to run by in order to avoid being caught.

" _Viq, have you contacted the Mothership?"_ Ya'hr querried. "... T _his human form is... tiring me."_

 _"I have, Ya'hr."_ Viq turned to his young brother in concern. " _Hold on a little longer, my brother._ _We're almost reaching the point of extraction."_ Ya'hr nodded, seemingly more tranquil despite being physically and mentally exhausted. Shrinking and assuming a determined form for an extensive ammount of time demanded alot of energy from a Phantom. And may cause extreme fatigue, hence the reason as to why Bhor Phantoms were handpicked from their seniors to serve as the best of the best.

The two Bhors pressed their pace against time itself, with Ya'hr getting more and more fatigued by the minute with his form. Viq was an extremely effective, composed and cold operator in the Scourge ranks, but the tired pantings and the slower pacings of Ya'hr greatly frightened him. The thought of losing his brother perturbed his mind each time he was deployed into a battlefield, especially if the zone of operations was directly inside the enemy lines. And each time found himself almost completely replacing his fear with confidence in his brother's abilities, seeing the effectivity of Ya'hr in the frontlines and some infiltration operations.

Viq eased when they came across a circular hatch, with the words at its top displaying "Exit" in red. The blue highlighting around the door from Viq's vision indicated it was unlocked and ready to allow their exit. Both were let out relieved sights, glad that they were about to leave the dark maze. Upon opening the hatch, Viq and Ya'hr took a little time to scan their surroundings as they slowly approached a second hatch that led to the ship's tram system. It was the fastest way out of the ship and he wasn't going to take more chances to push his brother's fatigue any further. His condition was already getting worse.

They slowly approached the second hatch, still viewing their surroundings for any oncoming threat in the decently lit room. Braking themselves as their backs made contact with the cold metallic features of the door, neither Viq or Ya'hr sensed any hostiles behind the door or nearby. Reluctantly, Viq unlocked the hatch and gestured for Ya'hr to go on ahead while he watched their six.

Just as when Ya'hr crossed the doorway, the ship roared its alarms and shut off the lightning. The flashing red of the alarms now served as the room's illumination source.

" **Entering lockdown.** "

" _Viq! Come on!"_ Ya'hr called out.

The hatch shut off just as when he rushed to the door, leaving Viq trapped in the hall as he futilely attempted to force the door open.

Failing each attempt, he knew he was going nowhere if he kept trying to force it and decided to leave it be.

 _"Viq! Viq!"_ His younger brother desperately cried out from behind the hatch.

" _Ya'hr, I'm fine! Go on ah-"_

" _Oh Luminus!_ _How do I open this?!_ _"_

 _"Ya'hr, listen..."_

 _"I'll get you out of there, Viq! I'll-"_

 _"Ya'hr! Listen to me! I want you to go on ahead and take their transport microvessel to the other section and get out of here! I'll find another way out..."_

 _"No. No! I'm not leaving you here!"_

 _"There is no time! Their system layouts are different from the past years!"_

 _"But-"_

 _"Leave me, Ya'hr!_ _Complete the mission, that's an order!_ "

Viq sighed when he heard his brother loudly cursing to himself, quickly followed by his distancing footsteps. Viq was willing to give his own life in order to complete the mission and protect his brother and people. He prayed to Luminus to keep Ya'hr safe from harm and to give him strength to fare without a brother, knowing the chances of him returning to the Mothership were very slim.

He could faintly make out the quick approach of the human guards from the distance behind. He only had a few seconds to hide and search for an alternate route.  
Crouching and deploying his invisibility cloak, he once again advantaged himself in the shadows as he camouflaged himself behind a file of several plant beds.

Viq cursed to himself. " _This human form is tiring me aswell. I have to shift._ "

The guards were getting closer.

Readying himself for possible engagement, he eyed the hatch and grudgingly awaited for an upcoming squad of humans. These humans... despite being seemingly weak in appearance when in comparison to a common Bhor ranker, weren't to be understimated with the power of their so baptized 'Core Armors'. It can be even worse if they are in a bunch, or in a batallion, for they are well coordinated with their strikes and with undoubtedly can even cause considerable damage against the mightiest of Bhors and Cynormus. Surprisingly, they were still considered primitives within the knowledges of the covenant.

The approaching sound of numerous footsteps came to a stop from behind the hatch.

He shifted mass and weight, noticing that his human form consumed a good portion of his energy. He deduced that if he wanted to atleast have the minimal chances of returning, he would need to have some energy for combat. The humans were enough of a threat with Core Armors and Luminus knows what happens if they manage to capture a Bhor...  
He let out a snort of disgust as he assumed his original form, still invisible. Phantoms aim to take out their targets as quickly and as silently as possible. While the hall he was in didn't present many advantages in the safest and stealthiest aspect, there were a few points he could exploit. And maybe find a way out before more human soldiers attacked him.

The hatch hissed as it opened, quickly followed by a squadron of five armored soldiers rushing into the hall, their weapons drawn.

"Alright, search the area! Louis says he saw two men in here just before the lockdown and one went ahead, might have been the clowns who messed with the engines." With a hand gesture, the leader continues. "Marlowe and Hoppers, you'll be searching this hall with me." He ordered as he turned to the rest of his squadron. "And you two, go ahead through the hatch and look for the other, he couldn't have gone too far."

"Aye, Sergeant!" Responded one of whom he had pointed.

"Copy." Followed the other as they began to move. The two soldiers went ahead, leaving the other three to search the hall.

Viq frowned as the two humans pressed to his position. To his six, was the airlock Ya'hr had previously crossed, they were after his brother, unaware that the only way they would get to cross that door was over his corpse.

It wasn't even a moment and they were nearly ontop of him.

There was no time, He'll have to go loud to protect his brother, his cover would be blown sooner or later anyways.

In a split second, the Phantom Bhor deactivated his invisibility cloak and used his superior strength to burst through the flowerbeds, causing the two human soldiers to lurch in bewilderment at the subtle flare of fragments from their twelve.  
Using their confusion to his advantage, the Bhor swatted one of them with a powerful blow to their torso, sending the human flying back several meters, his scream cut short as he impacted a wall with a sickening 'crack'.

"Holy shit!" A shocked soldier voiced from the trio.

"Open fire!" The leader of the group ordered, blazing the halls with Kelta.

The Phantom threw himself to the ground, barely avoiding the onslaught of the blue energy. A shot from their so called 'Kelta' wouldn't be lethal, but were potent enough to subdue a Bhor ranker with a strong chain of electricity. Very painful.

Viq crawled to safety whilst Kelta shots threatened to leave a mark on his head, whistling from above him and shattering glass panels inside of the room. He stopped and took cover behind a pillar, looking back from where he once stood as a wave of blue energy attacked his position.  
There were no signs of the other soldier... this was bad. He scanned his surroundings for the threat, the last thing he needed was to be taken by surprise and be captured.

For long as he scanned, Viq almost gathered that the human ran to his companions. Until the hail of Kelta stopped, for his relief.

And for his dismay, the approaching sound of metallic steps and a warcry brought him out of his past action, it was the other human.  
As the soldier approached, the Bhor sidestepped a thrust from the former, leaving the young human in shock at the sheer agility of his opponent.

The second soldier, for his turn, reacted with desperate slashes and cuts to the Phantom's frame, driven by adrenaline to try and terminate the threat with such careless and pitiful blows as if forgetting about training, if he had received any at all. Viq dodged and parried each strike with ease. He couldn't help but feel a ping of guilt at the knowledge that another young life was going to be scythed by his hands, cruelty of the inexperience; sister of fate. The two species were at war... and as a Phantom Bhor, Viq had to do his duty.

He evaded a diagonal slash and responded with a quick haul of his leg, his nano-armored toe connecting with the soldier's head.  
The helmet was shattered to pieces as the force of the kick proved too much for it to endure, leaving a limp human body with a punctured skull to lifelessly fall to the ground. So far, he was faring well against the squadron.

He was taken by surprise when another explosion sounded off to his left.

Human reinforcements.


End file.
